schorr



R. SCHORR.

SELF BALANCING CENTRIFUGAL PUMP.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 24.1918. 1,323,412. Patented Dec. 2,1919. v 2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

R. SCHORR.

SELF BALANCING CENTRIFUGAL PUMP.

' APPLICATION HLED JUNE24. 191a.

' 1,323,412. Patented Dec 2,1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

I-FIE 5 I N VE/V 717/? False-fir SCHURR ATE QFFICE- ROBERT scnonn, or sent rnnnorsoo, oanrroanre, nssrenon r0 BYRON ano 'soN IRON WoRKs, or WEST BERKELEY, CALIFORNIA, A CORPORATION or CALIFORNIA.

SELF-BALANCING GENTBIFUGAL PUMP;

Specification of letters Patent.

- Patented Dec; 2, 1591-9.

' Application filed June 24, 191 8. Seriallio. 241,548.

and State of California have invented new and useful Improvements in Self-Balancing Centrifugal Pumps, of which the following is a specification.

The present invention relates to improvements in centrifugal pumps, blowers, and the like, in which end thrust on the rotary member is automatically counterbalanced.

All devices of this character which are employed in impelling fluids carrying sand or other abrasive material, so far as my knowledge extends, are rendered ineflicient after a comparatively short time by the wear of the sand and other abrasive material on the balancing means.

The object of the invention is to provide, indevices of this character, means forthus automatically counteracting end'thrust which will be free from this imperfection.

With this end in View the invention resides in the novel features and combination of parts hereinafter disclosed and claimed.

lVhile I have herein disclosed the invention as appliedto' the means for producing an automatic balance in centrifugal pumps, it can also be used with like advantage in connection with liquid, motors, or gaseous motors. In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is'a longitudinal sectional view showing an upper portion of a centrifugal pump provided with one form of my improved means for. producing an automatic balance; Fig. 2 is a detail longitudinal section showing a modification of said means; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 1 showing another modification of said means; Fig. 4 is a similar view illustrating the construction for such pumps with small runners and with replaceable bal ancing means; Fig. 5 is a similar view showing a pump with balancing means both replaceable and adjustable.

Referring to the drawings; 1 indicates the impeller or runner of a centrifugal pump.

keyed to a shaft 2, and housed by a casing consisting of a stationary part 3 and a removable part or cover 4. Its suction inlet 5 communicates through openings 6 in the runner with a chamber 7 in the casing, the suction inlet 5. openings 6, and chamber 7 being in a suction zone of the pump, in

which the pressure is low. The fluid is dischargedthrough a conduit 8, which, and the spaces freely communicating therewith, constitute. a pressure zone, in whichthe pres sure is. high.

On opposite sides of the runner are annular chambers 9, which I term control chambers, for the reason that the pressure therein is used to control the position of the runner in a longitudinal direction of its axis. The sides of these control chambers 9 are formed by sidesof the rotary and stationary 'members respectively, and the chambers communicate at their mneredges with the suction zone byannular communications 10 and at their outer edges with the pressure zone by annular communications 13. The communications 10 with the suction zone are between faces 11011 the runner and faces 12 onthe casing, all'of these faces extending transversely tothe axis of the runner. As the runnermoveslongitudinally, the communication 10 on the side toward which it movescontractsinwidth, andon the other side increases in width. i

Tie communications 13 of the control chambers with the pressure zone are be-' tween flanges 16 on the free edges of rings 14 on the runner, said rings 1& extending toward the casing, and flanges 17 on the free edges of rings 15' on the casing, said Fig, 3, the flanges 16' of the rings on the runner extend outwardly, and the flanges 17 of the rin 's on the casin extend in wardly. In each case there is formed, on 1 each side of the pump or similar device, between adjacent edges of flanges of rings on the runner and easing, the contracted annular communication 13 so formed and located that, when the runner moves away from either side of the casing, said communication 13 on that side contracts and on the other side expands, and when the runner moves toward either side said communication 13' on that side expands and on the other side contracts.

In the form of the invention shown in Fig. 2, the flanges on the rings overlap and the communication 13* is between the oven lapping portions. Although in this case the communication 13 on the side from which the runner moves is not contracted, yet, since the length of the overlap increases, the conductivity of the communication is diminished, and, the conductivity of the communication 13* on the other side is increased, and conversely, this being the same result in both cases as in the forms of the invention shown in Figs, 1 and 3.

Fig. 4- illustrates a modification of the invention advantageously used in pumps having runners of small diameters, and in which, for the rings 15 on the casing, are substituted replaceable rings 1.) extending around annular shoulders 20 on the removable and stationary parts of the casing respectively. It will be seen that, in this form of the invention, the rings 1% on the runner are situated on the extreme outer portions thereof, the object of this arrangementbeing to obtain control chambers of sufliciently large expanse to provide the necessary controlling pressure, notwithstanding the small diameter of the pump.

Fig. 5 illustrates a construction having replaceable annular rings 14; on the rotary member as well as the replaceable rings 15" on the stationary member and also having means for advancing a ring 15 toward the runner when too badly worn. The means employed consists of a threaded stud 22 screwed inwardly and having a'shoulder engaging the ring 15 T he same result can be obtained by introducing a shim between the ring 15' and the cover, or by reducing thethickness of a gasket 24: between the casing and cover. This construction is "advantageous because experience has shown that the most serious wear occurs at the communications 10.

The mode of operation is the same in all of the constructions illustrated, that is to say, any endwise movement of the runner varies the conductivity of the gaps by which the control chambers communicate with the pressure and suction zones, in such a manner that the pressures in the control chamfrom their free edges, each toward the other ring, annular flanges, each more rcmote'than the other flange from the member by which its ring is supported, the outside ameter of one flange being slightly smaller than the inside diameter of the other or cooperative flange, said flanges thus forming the sides of an annular gap or communication between the control chamber and the pressure zone diminishing in conductivity with the movement of the rotary member from said control chamber, said rotary and stationary members having faces which extend, transversely to the axis of the rotary member, to each control chamber from the suction zone at the corresponding side of the rotary member, said faces forming, between the control chamber and the suction zone, an annular communication of substantially uniform width throughout, and increasing in conductivity with the movement of the rotary member from the control chamber.

2. The construction defined by claim 1 but with the additional limitation that one of said rings is removable from its support.

3. The construction defined by claim 1 with the additional limitation that both of said rings are removable from their supports.

4-. The construction defined by claim 1 but with the additional limitation that one of said is adjustable on its support.

ROBERT SCHORR. 

